ARTICHOKES AND POTATOES IN CAPER SAUCE
1 lb. mixed cooked artichokes and potatoes.
1/2 pint white sauce to which about 2 teaspoons chopped capers or pickled nasturtium seeds and 1 teaspoon vinegar have been added.
Browned breadcrumbs.
A few shavings of cooking fat.
Dice the cooked artichokes and potatoes into neat cubes, placing them in a fireproof dish. Prepare the sauce, using part artichoke stock and part milk (see p. 115).
Pour the hot well-seasoned sauce over the vegetables, sprinkle with browned crumbs, dot here and there with cooking fat, and heat through in a moderately hot oven, or under a well-heated grill, until crisp-crusted and golden. Serve hot.
ARTICHOKE CHIPS
Another appetising way to cook this vegetable is to cut across the artichoke to make thinnish slices. These can be fried, like potato chips, in a little fat, then drained, salted, and seasoned with pepper, and perhaps a sprinkling of finely “powdered” cheese, if it can be spared. (The dry, next-to-the-rind pieces of hard cheese grate down excellently for this.)
ARTICHOKE CRISPS
Peel the artichokes and slice very thinly. Soak in wellsalted water for about half an hour. Dry on a wire cake tray in a very slow oven until quite crisp (about 3 hours). Store in air-tight tins. These crisps are as delicious as potato crisps and have a pleasant flavour.
ASPARAGUS
Unless home-grown, asparagus is a luxury vegetable.
If buying asparagus, see that the stalks are fresh, the heads crisp and the cut ends of the stalk clear-coloured. If they are to be kept fresh for a few hours, place the stems in a jug of cold water.
To Cook.—Scrape the stem lightly with a knife, then wash in cold water. Trim the stalks to one length, and tie into conveniently-sized bundles.
Cook gently in boiling salted water, or steam in a small amount of water, with the heads emerging, until the green part of the stem is quite tender. Drain on a fish slice, and lay the bundles on slices of toast. Snip the strings and dress the tips with as much melted fat—margarine for preference—as can be spared.
BROAD BEANS
As a pod vegetable, broad beans are valuable food. They contain vitamins A, C, and B 1, and good vegetable protein. Freshly picked, when young, they are really delicious.
Steamed, or boiled in a little salted water, they soon become tender, but be sure to leave on the outer skins of the seeds. Many people make the mistake of peeling away this covering skin, which deprives the dish of much flavour and food value.
Serve cooked broad beans with a little melted fat and a sprinkling of fresh chopped parsley. When a little older, they taste good in a parsley sauce, or with piquant flavouring.
Young broad beans are also good eaten raw in a salad.
BROAD BEANS (make two meals)
When young, broad beans can be used in two ways. The pods are very tender and delicious when sliced like runner beans, simmered in salted water and dressed in exactly the same way. They are also good served in parsley sauce.
Shell the beans in the usual way and cook for the first meal. Cut the pods into strips or diagonal slices, and cook them too. When cold, the sliced pods are good dressed in mayonnaise or French dressing in salad.
BROAD BEANS (cooked in their pods)
1 lb. very young beans.
1 oz. margarine or bacon dripping.
1 oz. flour.
1 dessertspoon of finely chopped parsley.
1 gill bean liquor.
1 gill milk.
Seasoning of salt and pepper.
Trim the end from the pods and cut the beans into inch lengths. Cook in boiling salted water until tender, then drain.
Make a parsley sauce with the bean stock, fat and flour, adding the milk after the sauce has fully cooked. Shake in the chopped parsley, season with salt and pepper, and mix in the cooked beans last of all. Heat through and serve.
BROAD BEAN PUREE
When beans are a little older, they can be sieved and “creamed” to make them more attractive for table. Take a quart measure of shelled beans and steam or boil them in the usual way till tender.
Drain them, then rub them through a sieve. Take the remaining liquor and make up to the required quantity of liquid with milk, for a white sauce. Use an ounce of bacon dripping or margarine and an ounce of flour for each gill and a half of stock (for method, see p. 115), and use the sauce, after boiling and seasoning, to bring the puree to a creamy consistency.
For BROAD BEAN SALAD see p. 61, SALADS.
BROAD BEANS IN PIQUANT SAUCE
Boil the prepared beans until tender, then prepare a sauce with 1 oz. margarine or cooking fat, 1 level tablespoon flour, and 1/4 pint of stock from the beans.
Melt the fat, stir in the flour smoothly and allow them to cook together slowly. Gradually add the gill of stock, stirring until fully thickened. When returned to the boil for three minutes, season well, and add 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon of chopped capers.
Heat the beans in this sauce, then serve while very hot.
BROAD BEANS FOR WINTER USE
Broad beans which have been allowed to mature in their pods may be stored for winter use. Make sure they are quite dry before packing in airtight tins. Soak and cook like haricots.
FRENCH BEANS (or Runner Beans)
When young these vegetables can be cooked whole, with tops and tails removed. When older, a stringy vein develops down the ribs of the pod, which must be removed before cooking for full enjoyment.
Trim away the “strings,” then slice the bean lengthways, or break with the fingers into 2-inch lengths (this saves time), and steam or boil the vegetable until tender in a small quantity of boiling salted water. When tender and young allow them to “steam” by using very little water, and adding, if possible, a very little fat which they can absorb during the cooking. This makes them glisten well and improves their flavour. The actual cooking time varies with the age and size of the beans.
When beans are home-grown and can be gathered near the time of cooking, their full flavour and goodness can be enjoyed; for households purchasing from local markets, it is wise to select beans as crisp as possible.
When runner beans are too old for table, let them mature on the plants and then dry the beans (not the pods) for winter use.
For FRENCH AND RUNNER BEANS IN SALADS, see p. 61,